The construction of a bypass of Montego Bay has been well underway and is scheduled to continue to the end of 2024. Ground was originally broken on the project in July 2022, with construction beginning later in the same year.

The National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) released the environmental impact assessment (EIA) in relation to the construction of the bypass in October 2018.

According to the report, several communities were highlighted as needing to be given extra consideration based on their proximity to the construction. Included in that list is the community of Porto Bello, which continues to be used as a major throughfare for construction vehicles and workers.

The community of Porto Bello has been categorised as a ‘private development’, thereby falling outside of the purview of the St James Municipal Corporation as it was not ‘handed over’ to the council by the original developer.

With that in mind, taxpaying residents have raised concerns that the construction will result in a breakdown of the road conditions, which have already been deteriorating for some time—effectively leaving the citizens to fend for themselves as the council will have no jurisdiction to remedy the roadways.

One Porto Bello resident, Simon Walker*, speaking with Our Today, contended, “If the construction is really to continue for the rest of the year, what will be state of the roads by then? What will happen when it is completed and where will that leave us?”

Walker told Our Today that he is aware of plans to develop other sections of the scheme during the course of the year, and what that could mean in relation to the work associated with the bypass.

“It would be unfortunate to have that section fixed and dealt with and then the construction vehicles affect those roads as well and all that work would be undone,” the resident remarked.

Another resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also expressed her concern about the prospect of being left with worse roads at the end of the construction.

“We have all this heavy duty equipment using the roads to get to and from the site and they’re making the roads worse than they were and at the end of the day, the government will not take ownership of the road because we get told we live in a private scheme,” Darlene Moodie* shared.

Moodie went on further to say it is unfair to the citizens in the community who are expected to pay their property taxes but then cannot have the benefits offered by the parish council.

According to the EIA report, consultations were to be done with various interest groups connected to the identified communities in order to discuss the impact the construction would have on their areas of residence. The report suggests that a determination would be made as to the impact on traffic and travel times for the commuters in these affected communities as well as potential access to the communities by emergency services during the construction.

Another Porto Bello resident Linval Henry* confirmed with Our Today that he is aware of a community meeting that took place with the residents of the Cornwall Courts scheme but that Porto Bello was not included in the meeting held prior to the commencement of the construction.

“I know Cornwall Courts was included in that meeting but Porto Bello, as they keep mentioning, is a private scheme so we never got mentioned or invited,” Henry shared.

Both Walker and Moodie mused that they were never told of any community meeting including Porto Bello residents in relation to the bypass construction.

“We keep being told that we’re not under the purview of the parish council but no one is suggesting what the alternative is or who we actually could go to and have our concerns addressed.” Henry added.

Neither a representative of the developer nor the China Habour Engineering Company (CHEC) were reachable for comment on the matter at the time of publication.

*Names changed upon request